CRANDON - Northwoods sports teams hope the latest snowstorm will be the last one from the winter that won't seem to end.

Until all that snow melts, some schools are taking proactive measures to find games for their athletes.

"We're over a month into the season and we still haven't had a practice outside," said Crandon Activities Director Josh Jaeger.

Like most schools, Crandon's sports practices have been confined to hallways and gyms, while games have been cancelled or postponed.

"Getting an opportunity to actually tell them game situation stuff, and tell them, and help them through it and coach them through it, I'm looking forward to that," said Crandon Softball Coach Shannon Howerton.

Next Tuesday the Cardinals baseball and softball teams will get that chance when they travel to the Wisconsin Dells to play Rhinelander, Crivitz and Peshtigo on the turf at the Woodside Sports Complex.

"I'm not excited for the travel, I can say that, but being able to finally go and play other teams is going to be amazing," said Crandon senior Alexis Quade.

Crandon is one of several Northwoods schools to travel for games.

While skipping a full day of school is not ideal, school administrators know students have missed less time than originally planned.

"It's like a trade-off. We've missed about six or eight games already, so they would've missed six or eight class times potentially, so it's one whole day for the four or five afternoons that they previously didn't miss," said Jaeger.

In an attempt to miss fewer games in the future, the Cardinals are taking a unique approach to clearing their fields.

"We decided to do it to our baseball field last week, and it worked really well," said Jaeger. "We had it to dirt and then Mother Nature provided us with another blessing of snow."

RHINELANDER - As he suited up with a bit of swagger and his aviator sunglasses, all eyes were on Greg Fiss and his airplane Wednesday morning. However, Fiss was quick to deflect the fame on the people watching him.

"They're the rock stars, we're just more visible," Fiss said of ground-based firefighters through his thick southern accent.

Fiss filled up his single-engine air tanker, or SEAT, with 800 gallons of water to show a group of DNR firefighters at Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport how he can help. The native Kansan has flown a SEAT for 14 years, transitioning from agriculture crop dusting.

LODI - Authorities say at least four people were hurt when a semi crashed into a school bus in south central Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin State Patrol says the crash happened Wednesday morning along northbound Interstate 39 near Lodi, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee. The patrol says the bus was parked on the shoulder of the interstate when it was struck.

MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker is sidestepping questions about whether more needs to be done to bolster student safety in the wake of a deadly high school shooting in Texas.

Asked during a question-and-answer period with reporters at the executive mansion Tuesday whether the Santa Fe High School shooting has motivated him to do more to increase school safety, Walker said no one should feel threatened at school.

He touted a bill he signed in March that provides school districts with $100 million in grants for security upgrades in their buildings. He said he hopes the state Department of Justice can get the money out quickly so schools can make improvements before fall classes begin.

MILWAUKEE - Prosecutors say a 21-year-old Milwaukee man beat a 15-year-old boy with a hammer, stabbed him in the neck and burned his body over a stolen video game system.

Police arrested Malik Terrell in Chicago on Monday after discovering the burnt remains of Dennis King in an abandoned Milwaukee house Sunday. King's family reported him missing since May 11.

Prosecutors say Terrell and his two younger siblings thought a friend of King's stole their video game system, so Terrell brought King to their house to question him. Investigators say Terrell and one of his siblings started beating King before Terrell attacked him with a hammer and stabbed him in the neck.

MADISON - The U.S. Department of Justice is threatening to sue Wisconsin over its restrictions on overseas voters.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission released a letter Tuesday that it received from the DOJ on May 9. The letter warned the agency is preparing to sue because Wisconsin law doesn't allow temporary overseas voters to obtain ballots electronically or to file unofficial ballots. Under federal law, all voters overseas are entitled to both options regardless of the length of their stays abroad.

The DOJ wants the state to sign an agreement with the agency that it will provide the options. The elections commission plans to discuss the letter during a meeting Thursday.

MINOCQUA - A big tour bus with C-SPAN's logo on the side pulled into Lakeland Union High School on Tuesday.

The public affairs network arrived to help celebrate the work of students at the school. Four students were recognized for their winning projects in C-SPAN's Student Cam contest.

That contest drew 3,000 video entries.

"The fact that we had two groups of students winning here from Lakeland Union High School is pretty much a big deal," said C-SPAN Marketing Representative Shannon Augustus. "We're super happy to be here in Wisconsin."

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